Chapter 25

Li Chong was originally planning to go out early, but while tidying up the suit from yesterday, he discovered that the peach-pink tie was missing. That tie belonged to the mature and charming Lee Hyori. If she ever asked for it again and he couldn't find it, he would be devastated...

Unfortunately, even after turning the house upside down, Li Chong couldn't find the tie. He probably dropped it while fleeing from the subway exit yesterday. Thinking of the subway exit, he wondered how the girl named Jeong Soo-yeon was doing. Li Chong shook his head and decided he needed to get a new tie. But what brand should it be? Li Chong was quite troubled.

As Li Chong was about to leave, he saw the elevator doors closing and heard a group of girls laughing and chatting.

"Do I have a bunch of girls living next door? How come I didn't know? Could they be trainees from an entertainment company?" Li Chong muttered to himself. It had been several months, and he had never seen what his neighbors looked like.

When Li Chong reached the ground floor, he only saw a large nanny van driving away...

"Maybe I should buy something and visit my neighbors? After all, I've been living here for so long, and I don't even know who they are. That's not right," Li Chong thought.

Li Chong lit a cigarette and considered whether he should get a car. Running around like this wasn't a good idea. It was already October, and the weather was getting colder. Li Chong used to take the subway in the morning and hitch rides or take taxis in the evening... Sometimes, when it was too late, he would stay overnight at the filming location. In South Korea, domestic cars weren't expensive, and second-hand cars were even cheaper. Li Chong had already decided to get a car.

When he arrived at the main filming location, everyone was already busy. Large spotlights and floodlights were being set up, and the water truck was in place. Starting today, all the scenes for "The Chaser" would be shot at night and in the rain.

"Brother Zhang Xun, what did Teacher Kim Ki-duk want yesterday?" Li Chong was annoyed that Zhang Xun had fled at the last minute and left him to suffer at the party alone, so he decided to tease him a bit.

"Oh, the teacher plans to have me direct a movie independently in a while. The budget is already in place, and I just need to wait for your movie to be completed. I've already started working on the script, and I have a rough outline," Zhang Xun said excitedly.

Li Chong was also very happy for Zhang Xun. After being an assistant director for so many years, Zhang Xun had long had the ability to direct a movie; he just never had the opportunity.

"That's great. If you need anything, just let me know. I can even be your assistant director if needed," Li Chong said.

The actors arrived one by one.

Zhang Xun said to Li Chong, "We should start with the scenes in the police station. The borrowed police station is about to be demolished. I begged them to delay the demolition, and they agreed to do it last. But we don't have much time, maybe two weeks at most. We need to film those scenes as soon as possible."

"Alright, let's start with those scenes today," Li Chong agreed, feeling the need to speed things up.

"Action for Scene 10, Take 1!!!" With a "click," the filming began.

Jung-ho, pretending to be a police officer, beat up Chi Young-min. Someone called the police, and both Jung-ho and Chi Young-min were taken to the police station. They started taking Chi Young-min's statement.

"Mr. Chi Young-min, whose car is it?" the police officer asked.

"What? The car? Ah..." Chi Young-min hesitated. "A friend of mine."

"Which friend?"

"Ah, what?"

"What's his name?"

"I can't remember."

"Do you have his phone number?"

"It's at home." Chi Young-min saw the police officer didn't believe him and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No, it's just strange that you don't remember the car owner's name, yet he lent you the car."

"I have a very poor memory."

"Alright, write your statement then."

The police officer looked at the report and asked, "Is your phone number 011 or 016?"

Chi Young-min quickly answered, "016."

"I thought you didn't have a phone. Where is your phone?" The police officer also felt something was off about Chi Young-min.

"It's at home."

"Why did you lie? What's your phone number? Is it 4885?" the police officer pressed.

"No," Chi Young-min said, panicking.

"Forget it, I can check. Why are you pretending?" the police officer continued to push.

Chi Young-min looked at Jung-ho, who was sitting far away, and hesitated to speak.

The police officer followed up, "Did you sell those girls?"

"No," Chi Young-min said.

The police officer felt he had found the key. "Admit it, you sold those girls."

"No, I said no, I didn't sell them," Chi Young-min said, getting agitated, then relaxed and said softly with a smile, "I killed them."

"Cut! Brother Jung-ho, you shouldn't have been so agitated at the end. Just slightly adjust your emotions, then say 'I killed them' with a smile and a hint of indifference," Li Chong felt the scene was a bit lacking.

"This scene is mainly about your facial expressions. You need to show a calm and innocent look," Li Chong explained the scene again. Most of the shots went through in one take.

At first, everyone didn't notice anything, but as time passed, they realized something was different. Why was everything going so smoothly today? Except for the initial NG, everything else went through in one take. Could everyone be acting like movie stars now?

After another shot, Zhang Xun pulled Li Chong aside and asked, somewhat worried, "Li Chong, what's going on today?"

"Nothing, the shots today are all good. I'm very satisfied. There are a few minor flaws, but we can edit them out later," Li Chong explained.

Zhang Xun was still uneasy. It was already the middle of the night. "Let's call it a day? We can review what we shot today."

Li Chong looked at the time. It was already 1 AM. "Alright."

"Everyone, that's it for today. We'll continue tomorrow afternoon. Clean up the set, and let's call it a day!" Li Chong announced to the resting crew.

"Yay!!!" Everyone was happy to hear it was time to go home.

Most people had already left, and Li Chong and Zhang Xun sat in front of the computer, reviewing the footage from the night. Compared to previous shoots, there were some minor flaws, but most were insignificant. The crew and actors were also more cautious because they were afraid of Li Chong's "cut," so they were extra careful. This made the shooting go very smoothly. Li Chong relaxed his standards, explaining the scenes in detail before shooting and making fine adjustments during the process. As a result, almost everything went through in one take today.

Zhang Xun watched the footage and felt that Li Chong had matured. Previously, Li Chong's pursuit of perfection was something Zhang Xun had mentioned to Kim Ki-duk. Kim Ki-duk thought Li Chong should be allowed to take a step forward and realize on his own that making a movie isn't easy and that many things need to be considered, not just what you want...

Now, it seemed that Li Chong had recognized his shortcomings and was making changes, and the changes were good... Zhang Xun thought.